SECTION OF ORIENTAL ANTIQUITIES. 95 



extensive thau the period of time. Roughly speaking-, it would require 

 that one point of a compass be placed in Jerusalem, and a radius of a 

 thousand miles be selected to describe a circle which would include all of 

 the peoples with whom the Israelites came in contact during their na- 

 tional existence. On this basis an exhibit was prepared which will be 

 fully described in a special paper in the next annual report. 



In March, Professor Haupt, under the auspices of the Saturday Lect- 

 ure Association, delivered a lecture in the National Museum on Exca- 

 vations in Assyria and Babylonia, portions of which are appended as 

 being explanatory of the objects of the new department. The lecture 

 was illustrated by charcoal drawings of the Rock of Behistun, of the 

 sculptures it contains, and a plan of the " Tower of Babel,"- prepared and 

 colored after the description given in the lecture. 



EXCAVATIONS IN ASSYRIA AND BABYLONIA. 

 By Prof. Paul Haupt, Ph. D. 



On the old highway from Babylon to Media, in the region which the 

 ancients called Bagistana, the abode of the gods, there rises, 1,700 feet 

 above the plain, a steep and precipitous rock, the front overlaid with 

 polished white marble, covered with reliefs of colossal figures. Nine 

 men, a rope around their necks, their hands fastened behind their backs, 

 approach a majestic person, treading under foot the body of a prostrate 

 enemy, aud extending his left hand with an imperious gesture. Over 

 the whole group hovers Auramazda, the Persian god of light, blessing 

 the king and offering a royal diadem. 



Ktesias, the Greek physician of Artaxerxes II, attributed the monu- 

 ment to the fabulous queen Semiramis; and at the beginning of this 

 century Sir Robert Ker Porter, the famous English traveler, believed 

 that the sculptures represented Tiglathpileser and the ten tribes, while 

 Kepi)ler explained them to be Queen Esther and her attendants. 



The French Government sent the architects Coste and Flandin to 

 examine the monument and copy the inscription of four hurvdred lines 

 in cuneiform or wedge-shaped characters. But they returned with their 

 purpose unaccomplished, stating that the monuments, being 300 feet 

 above the ground, were inaccessible. 



In the years 1835 to 1837 Sir Henry Rawlinson, then a young officer 

 in the East India service, succeeded, in the face of unspeakable diffi- 

 culties, aud at an expense of more than £1,000, in copying a portion of 

 the inscriptions. Not until ten years later was he enabled to complete 

 his copy. In 1846 he published the first explanation of the inscription, 

 which commemorates the victories gained by the great Persian king 

 Darius Hystaspes over the rebels in the numerous provinces of his vast 

 empire. It is composed in three different languages. Just as the gov- 

 ernor of Bagdad in our days, if he wishes to be understood by the vari- 

 ous races under his charge, has to draw up his edicts in Turkish, Arabic, 



